


Everything After

by snarechan



Category: Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Angst, Community: areyougame, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Crystals, Dreams, F/F, Family, Guns, Romance, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-25
Updated: 2012-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-10 16:43:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/468469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarechan/pseuds/snarechan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Transcendence is but one feat of the heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything After

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to a prompt left at the Dreamwidth community Are You Game?, which called for a crossover between Final Fantasy X and XIII: _Lightning/Yuna, learning to love again – guns._
> 
> Beta read by the marvelous Keppiehed; despite complications and obligations in their own life, they managed to edit this with a dedication I’m eternally appreciative of.

Yuna hadn’t dreamt since the destruction of Sin. After she had sent the Aeons to their final resting place, helped destroy Yu Yevon for good, and lost… _him_ , it was as if the ability was taken from her. It pained Yuna in so many ways, but the worst was realizing that she couldn’t escape. Even asleep, there was no pretending that matters had gone differently. The reality of loss haunted her day and night.

Her guardians – _friends_ , more like, considering there was no use calling them by such a title because that honor was obsolete – were worried. Their concern was what kept Yuna going some-most- _always_ these days. She ate and moved mechanically; to stop would worry those closest to her, and she would have them suffer no longer due to their association with her. They’d endured enough for one lifetime.

Though it brought Yuna little joy, the fact that it would be a waste of everything they’d striven for and fought to achieve was obligation enough to keep her going. Still, as her dreams faded so did her drive to be truly _alive_ ; she continued to live, but there was no pleasure left in the act.

Perhaps that was why Yuna didn’t realize she was dreaming at first. It’d been so long that it escaped her notice. The signs were not as obvious due to the time apart, until Yuna’s surroundings struck her as odd. The world was broken and jagged; light projected at strange angles and in an array of colors, though white remained predominant. The scenery reminded her of being inside a shattered mirror. Macalania Woods was the closest to such a place as this, but Yuna had not visited the crystal forest in some time.

She also wasn’t alone, as she had been when going to bed.

“Where am I?” a voice screamed. The words echoed all around Yuna, sounding muddled, as if passing through water. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“Hello?” Yuna called, perturbed.

A blurry oval blob shimmered in the distance; it was also serrated as it came closer. Yuna assumed it was the person yelling, though she could not be certain at this distance. She wondered if whoever they were was in trouble, maybe disorientated or distraught because they weren’t responding to her hails.

“What is this place? Somebody better answer me!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying,” she addressed them again.

Now she was moving, a step at a time, until Yuna was confident that she could travel with ease. Yuna walked forward, breaking into a jog when she met no resistance, but it felt like she went nowhere.

“That’s it,” the person said, before there came a loud _bang_. The world exploded

and

fell

apart.

Yuna screamed, bolting up in bed. Her skin was covered in a sheen of sweat and her blood pulsated in her throat, the vein fluttering near visibly. She blinked rapidly, lifting a shaky hand to press against her chest and closer to her pounding heart.

The dream had been bizarre. She’d never, in all her years, experienced one so intense. It was as if it had been _real_. Yuna swallowed thickly and breathed deeply, dismissing her experience until such a time as she could scrutinize it calmly. It took many more deep breaths before she considered the notion. She lay back on the mattress and clutched her sheets, no longer out of surprise but to get comfortable.

The room of the temple was silent and dark. She was the sole resident after the spirit of Valefor had left this place. The previous attendants had either abandoned the shrine after learning about the Yevonites’ deceit or left to serve in the capital of Bevelle. The island of Besaid was small to begin with, and no one desired to maintain the temple actively despite it being the starting place of the High Summoner that brought the Eternal Calm. So she’d claimed it as her makeshift abode, for few visited. It remained a sanctuary to Yuna, who needed solace more than ever. Even now the structure soothed her with no outside noise – natural or otherwise – to penetrate this far and no one else within its confines, save her.

When she could bear to remember her dream, Yuna did so objectively. This did not mean it was made any clearer. The voice had been gruff, but feminine, and didn’t resemble anyone she knew. Neither could she identify the environment of where she’d been. Altogether, the experience left her more confused than anything.

 _Perhaps Lulu will know_ , Yuna thought as she curled onto her side, tucking one hand under her pillow while the other rested out in front of her, beseechingly, on the mattress.

* * *

“I have no idea what it could mean,” Lulu professed over tea the next morning.

They were sitting together in the woman’s private hut, positioned at opposite ends from each other with a roaring fire pit between them.

“Dreams are beyond my expertise. I can control the elements, but I’m afraid I am no soothsayer,” she continued, taking a sip of her drink right after.

Yuna couldn’t stop herself from sighing, though it was not out of disappointment. Lulu was a powerful mage, but she’d known before dropping in that it was a gamble. Dreams were uncontrollable and unpredictable, not a realm for mere residents of Spira as they were. Dreams were for the dead.

Yuna looked up from her drink at the sensation of Lulu’s eyes boring into her head, and her friend did not flinch as their eyes met.

“What is this about, Yuna? Why do you ask me about glass and dreams?”

Yuna refrained from wetting her lips and kept her hands steady as she took a drink from her cup.  
  
“I…just have a feeling,” she confessed, adding for Lulu’s benefit, “It’s not a _bad_ feeling, but something else entirely.”

She’d chosen to be honest, not merely because she was an earnest person and trusted Lulu like family, but anything less would not have escaped her host. Lulu knew Yuna too well to be fooled. Her honesty was rewarded with a contemplative look from her old guardian, which was far less intense than the one she used while scrutinizing her.

“I cannot tell you much, but what I can say is this: Dreams are many things. Premonitions, revelations – they are these and more. It is different for each of us, and in turn impacts us in ways we cannot always imagine. The acts themselves are harmless. You need not fear dreams. Embrace them as portals to endless possibilities.”

* * *

The advice was practical in theory, but Yuna had her doubts as the next instance tested her perceptions. The dream did not occur right away, but a week later. She wished it’d never come when Yuna found herself assaulted.

The world was as before: fractured and bright. Yuna had enough time to make that observation before an arm – toned, but thin – wrapped around her front and pulled her back against her attacker’s chest. Toughened fabric rubbed against her exposed shoulder blades. The scent of roses and gunpowder, like from those Al Bhed machina, invaded her sense of smell as Yuna was held captive. A large, silver instrument was pressed against her neck, and she wisely kept stock still.

“Who are you?” the person demanded. Their voice gave them away as the same individual that she’d previously heard, though her voice was much fiercer at this proximity. When Yuna didn’t respond to her liking, Yuna was gripped tighter.

“I asked you who you are!”

“My name is Yuna,” she said, voice not betraying her nervousness.

“Okay, Yuna,” the woman said. “Now tell me where we are and why I’m here.”

“I don’t know.”

“Wrong answer,” she hissed. The hand reaching across to grasp her upper arm tightened more.

“I really don’t know,” Yuna protested, struggling. “That hurts. Stop it!”

The woman had to release her or cause some real damage in consequence, though it was done with great reluctance. She shoved Yuna away but did not relax her stance. The weapon she’d held at Yuna’s throat was pointed at her. She did not recognize what it was, as was the case with everything else here.

This provided her with a chance to observe the attacker. She was tall, with touches of armor – a warrior. Her hair was a strange color, but it was the eyes that startled her. They were narrowed and like the metal of her weapon: honed, steely, and calculating. They did not stay that way for long. Upon getting a serious look at Yuna, her face slackened as if in uncertainty.

“Your clothes…” she trailed off, debating.

Her assailant retracted her weapon, but did not sheath it. The woman circled Yuna with it raised closer to shoulder level.

Yuna trailed after her, turning in place as she asked, “What about them?”

“The make is similar to someone else’s that I know. Are you from Gran Pulse?”

The words were foreign, but Yuna tried to infer as best she could.

“No. I was born in Bevelle, but raised in the village of Besaid.”

“I don’t know the geography, so that means nothing to me.”

Yuna frowned, her dream taking weirder and weirder turns. _What did all of this mean? What was her subconscious trying to tell her?_

“I do not know this ‘Gran Pulse.’ There is no place called that on Spira, to my knowledge.”

“Are you going to start making sense anytime soon?”

Yuna shook her head, at as much of a loss as the woman.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know where we are, nor our purpose for being here. I was hoping you would tell me.”

“Why would I?”

“I…I thought dreams were supposed to guide the dreamer, but I could be mistaken.”

The woman stopped in her tracks, managing to hold her weapon steady even this prolonged period of time. A hardened look entered her eyes again.

“Dreams?”

Yuna said nothing.

“You think this is some kind of hallucination? I’ve been trapped here for what must be days. This is no dream-”

* * *

“Yuna! Yuna, wake up, ya?”

Eyes snapping open, Yuna was greeted by her dim room and Wakka kneeling over her.

“Wakka?” she asked uncertainly, sitting up and brushing hair behind one ear.

“Sorry to intrude, but…Lulu sent me. She worries about you,” he told her, rubbing the back of his head. “I came to bring you yesterday’s catch, but you were talking funny in your sleep. Girl, it’s almost noon!”

“Oh,” she answered, still muzzy. Her tiredness was fading, but her dream was not. Oddly, it seemed to intensify as she recalled it. “Thank you. I apologize if I worried you.”

“Just so long as you’re, ya know, okay, then it’s no big deal,” he said, eyes flickering to her face. “You’re okay, right?”

She nodded wordlessly, though she was unsure. Sometimes she wondered if she’d ever be okay again, or if she’d ever been okay to begin with.

* * *

The beach was peaceful this time of year. Most of the villagers were out fishing or performing other duties, and it was too early for Blitzball practice. She was the single person on the entire coast, the vastness of the ocean untouched as far as she could perceive. This made it easy for her mind to wander.

Last night made it clear something far more important was happening. Marks on her arm had appeared, the bruises resembling a hand wrapped around the flesh. Wakka had not touched her, save to gently nudge her in the side, nor had Yuna interacted with anyone in a fashion deserving of such a mark.

She vividly remembered the scent of roses and gunpowder. It was still trapped in her clothes and hair.

So Yuna had not dreamed, not as she’d perceived it to be all these years, which raised the question: what _was_ happening?

* * *

“Oh, hello again,” Yuna greeted upon meeting the person of the sleep world face-to-face a second time.

Thankfully, her weapon was holstered, but she was by no means welcoming in return. Both arms were crossed and her stance projected her readiness to retaliate at the first sign of a threat. At least she refrained from glaring, a suspicious glower taking its place.

“Yuna.”

Her name was spoken with little inflection, but Yuna accepted it as a salutation. This form of acknowledgement was preferable to the previous kind. Though it wasn’t an invitation, Yuna folded her skirt and kneeled, getting comfortable this time. The woman remained upright, refusing her polite cue to join her if she so chose.

“I think we may have gotten off to the wrong impression earlier. Introductions are, maybe, in order?”

“I already know your name.”

“What may I call you?”

Her lips thinned; it obvious she was pondering.

“You can call me Lightning.”

Yuna offered her a grateful smile and proceeded with pleasantries.

“It’s nice to make your acquaintance, Lightning. If I may ask, what do you last remember? What were you doing before coming here?”

“Cut the crap,” she said peevishly, arms dropping free as she advanced a single step. She pointed a finger, but Yuna refused to be baited. “Don’t think this is some kind of interrogation.”

“Then what do you want to talk about?” Yuna asked.

Lightning was silent, and Yuna decided not to push. Instead, she hoped that opening up would show her that she was serious about her attempts to reason through this, together.

“I thought this was all a fabrication of my mind. Maybe the grief – ah, the uh…” she faltered, Lightning jumping to stark attention. Yuna plowed onward before she could say anything. “I thought the traumatic events of my past were manifesting. Or…maybe…”

“So, _you_ wake up? For sure?” Lightning asked. “Is that why you thought this wasn’t real?”

“Honestly, I’m still not certain. It’s difficult to believe. There are no accounts of…sharing minds?” Yuna haphazardly guessed the last part, unsure of what else to refer to it.

Lightning snorted, but didn’t argue.

That was all the encouragement she needed.

“But yes, I do wake up.”

“How do you know it’s not the other way around? What if this is you waking up and when you vanish, that’s your going to sleep?”

Yuna thought about it, but her intuition steered her clear of such a notion. Lightning hadn’t even sounded sure of herself, if Yuna could gauge correctly.

“That doesn’t explain your presence here, though. Last time, you said you were stuck. If it was reality, wouldn’t you get tired? Hungry? Do you feel any of those things?”

“Tch, no,” she said, a tad short in tone. She turned her back, the cape affixed to her shoulder fluttering wildly with the motion. To Yuna’s surprise, she said, softly, “I know all that. I’m just trying to make sense of all this.”

Yuna could not blame her for the wishful thinking. She immediately corrected herself – Lightning did not strike her as someone who indulged in frivolous notions. Process of elimination felt more her style.

“Your senses feel dulled, right? That’s what it’s like for me, too,” Yuna offered sympathetically. “If that’s the case, then a force of some magnitude is preventing you from waking up. I will dedicate myself to helping you find out what that is.”

Lightning stiffened. Yuna had enough time to catch her eyes before they were separated – they wavered from some kind of indiscernible emotion, and that was all she saw.

* * *

“Why do you care?” Lightning demanded to know when they next crossed paths. Despite her absence, Yuna was not surprised that Lightning could start from a point back without effort. Or maybe time was skewed here. Yuna would have to ask.

“Because-” she began too soon.

It was in her nature to want to help those in need, and whether Lightning recognized it or not, she was in trouble. If it was within Yuna’s power to lend aid, then she would offer it without question and give generously.

“Because no one should have to do this alone,” Yuna decided to admit.

Lightning’s back was to her, but after a beat she faced Yuna. Her brows were puckered slightly, still leery, but the rest of her expression consisted of hope – or so Yuna liked to think.

* * *

“Isn’t this a bit sudden?” Lulu asked her, standing aside as Yuna packed a small traveling suitcase.

She was intent on visiting the city of Luca, where some of the grand libraries were built. Due to its high defenses, even now, it’d been the prime location for much of Spira’s literature. Historians and writers preserved their work there, to the point that the collection had outgrown two buildings and demanded a third. Countless books and scrolls were stored in the city, and may have the answers she sought.

Yuna had already perused the temple’s meager selection of reading material, and even its spheres for any explanation for what was happening, but it was for naught. The teachings had nothing useful, so she would explore elsewhere.

“Yes, a little,” Yuna conceded, sealing her traveling case. It was much, _much_ smaller than the one she’d tried to take with her on her first boat ride off the island.

“Does this have to do with that dream you spoke of?”

Yuna hadn’t told her about the others and how she believed they might not be dreams at all. She did not want to worry Lulu more than necessary.

“Sort of,” she hedged.

Lulu watched her pick up and carry the suitcase out, following in her footsteps. She said nothing more on the subject, not until they reached the dock, and even then it was Yuna who broke the silence.

“I will keep you informed when I can and take care of myself.”

“Please see that you do.”

Lulu was not the sort to make physical contact willingly, but she was always prepared to accept it when Yuna offered in the form of a goodbye hug. Wakka waited onboard the ship, in charge of the ferry now, and would see her to her destination safely.

* * *

Frustration was evident on Lightning’s face. They’d been brainstorming for days, but they’d gotten nowhere. Yuna knew her irritation wasn’t aimed at her personally, but it still made her a bit uncomfortable. There wasn’t much to go on. She wouldn’t be arriving at her destination until tomorrow and hadn’t had time to research. Lightning was at a loss, her memory as fractured as the landscape.

“Perhaps we shouldn’t push ourselves so hard. Discussing an unrelated topic might inspire some improvement,” Yuna suggested.

Lightning gave her an incredulous look.   
  
“Like what? What’s more important than talking about our situation?”

“Well, not more important, but like I said: getting our minds off of the problem might refresh us.”

Lightning didn’t seem to buy it, so as usual Yuna went first.

“Do you have a special someone waiting for you?”

“No,” she answered glibly, and Yuna thought that may be the end of that, but she didn’t stop there. “I’m not like my- I was too busy with my military career and running my life to bother with lovey-dovey stuff. Do you have somebody?”

Yuna couldn’t say the words. She mutely shook her head, hair obscuring her face. She changed topics, hoping to salvage her goal.

“Your…your weapon,” she said, pointing to the tool at Lightning’s thigh. “What is it, exactly? We have nothing that advanced where I come from.”

“This? It’s my standard issue gunblade.”

She grasped the hilt and unfolded it from its holster with the click of a button. The weapon remained as awe-inspiring and frightening as when she’d initially witnessed it. To Yuna’s delight, Lightning actually went down on one knee and held it for her to get a closer look.

“The Blazefire Saber is assigned to the highest skilled soldiers because of its dual-purpose nature. Few are skilled to handle both forms: gun-mode and blade-mode. It can fire an average shot of…”

Yuna did not comprehend all that she was told, but if it was worthy to be in Lightning’s favor then it stood to reason that it was a strong weapon. She observed it while she explained, noting the finer details like an inscription etched lengthwise along the metal.

“Impressive! I do not have much experience with blades or projectile weapons. I prefer staffs.”

“Are you a martial artist?”

“Oh no, I use it to channel my magic. My talents lie in medical spells, but I have learned some offensive casting to protect myself in an emergency.”

Lightning nodded in approval.

“It’s smart to be adaptable. Those who can’t tend to fail.”

Yuna smiled at the compliment, considering it precious from such a strict source.

“Where did you say you were from again?” Lightning asked a question this time.

It delighted Yuna further as she took interest and excitedly recounted her history. “Spira is dominated by water; it is dotted with many islands and only one major continent. I have visited most of them, but now reside on a small beach isle called Besaid. Though I was born elsewhere, it was where I was raised.”

She went on to detail the lakes and lagoons the place was famous for, as well as the village she lived in.

“Sounds a lot like Gran Pulse,” Lightning mused aloud.

“You have previously spoken of such a place.”

“I was transported there,” she said, though Yuna sensed that was not the entire tale. There must be a story involved. “Open plains, vast waterscapes…it was scenic, if you could get past the fact that everything was intent on killing you.”

While Lightning described it, Yuna was startled to witness their surroundings alter. They both observed as the view shifted, her visions seeming to project onto the transparent walls. The rough surface made the images somewhat difficult to distinguish, but Yuna could determine certain objects: giant plants, mountain ranges, some ruins, and wide open spaces.

“That’s it…” Lightning trailed off.

“It’s not Spira,” Yuna said, grinning demurely, “but you were right – it is nice looking on its own.”

* * *

There was nothing of use in Luca, and so in a desperate attempt she decided to go to Bevelle. The smaller temples hadn’t proven fruitful, but perhaps the religious headquarters contained informative sources.

She was hesitant in the beginning, unsure of what welcome she might receive. There were those who worshiped _her_ for ending the ongoing terror that was Sin, but some of the older devotees detested the blow to their reputation and her refusal of the old ways. In the end, Yuna figured she didn’t care for or about either and would sneak into the private library if need be. It wouldn’t be the first time she was an outlaw there.

* * *

“Nothing’s working,” Lightning said, pacing.

Yuna watched from her spot on the floor, hands clasped and resting in her lap. Watching her was liable to make her dizzy at this rate. Lightning had been cooped up for too long.

“Are you sure you’ve not found anything?”

“I’ve checked every scholarly account and studies on the subject of sleep, dreaming, and the human psyche and I haven’t found any leads. There’s been no headway in the testaments or magics, either. I’ve investigated countless spells, curses, and concoctions to no avail. We could go back to brainstorming?”

Lightning slashed a hand through the air.

“We’re running around in circles. Something’s missing. It’s probably obvious.”

“Let me-”

Something inexplicably snapped about Lightning’s person. Shades of her former self resurfaced as she rounded on Yuna.

“I’ve got this under control, Serah!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Lightning obviously had regrets. Her teeth clacked together as she snapped her mouth shut and she faced away. Yuna was equally mortified, though not for the same reasons. The rejection alone stung, but… _Who was this Serah person?_

“Just leave me alone, okay? Go away,” Lightning mumbled, and Yuna no longer fought her body’s calling.

* * *

Yuna wished it were possible not to dream. For so long she’d prayed and wished for it, but now the returned gift was a nightmare. Barring her attempts to refrain from sleep, she resolved to sit in the space she and Lightning were forced to share with her face tucked into her knees and arms clutching her legs. She could not provide Lightning with the solitude she desired, but she could give her peace – or be as unobtrusive as she could from across the room.

Lightning ruined such plans. Yuna sensed her within arm’s reach before she slumped against her, their backs touching. Yuna flinched but didn’t pull away or lift her head.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you,” Lightning apologized, voice thick but determined.

“Serah… Serah is my little sister. She’s nothing like you; she’s a lot more like me – too much so, sometimes. But she’s so _trusting_ and _open._ I had to make all the hard decisions and grow up fast to survive so that we… I’m not used to relying on someone else. I’m supposed to be the support – the pillar of strength for others. I always had some difficulty dealing with authority because of that. My superiors lectured me about not giving up control. I hate it.

“That’s no reason to take it out on you, though. I know you’re not Serah, but we’ve argued in the past about the same issue as I had with my superiors. For a moment you made me think of my sibling and…I miss her. Very much.”

Lightning fell silent, the air weighted and heavy. She was stubborn and quiet, even in her sadness and tears. Gently, Yuna tilted back her head, her hair mingling with Lightning’s and she could feel every stuttered breath she took.

“Not a day goes by where I don’t miss someone,” Yuna confessed. “My mom and dad… his and my Guardians… all the people of Spira I could not save… and…

“I used to smile through it. Whenever it got to be too much, I’d hide because I thought that’s what was expected of me. But I learned a valuable lesson from my dearest friend: you should never be ashamed of who you really are. Everybody at one point has lost someone or can’t be with them as much as they’d like, and it’s okay to show you care about them. That’s how we remember them when we can’t be together.”

Fingers sought her own out on the hard, uneven floor and grasped them to near-crushing, but Yuna never protested. She held back just as firmly.

* * *

“I remember,” Lightning said, clutching her necklace. It was such a common, worried gesture that Yuna was almost unnerved. “Not all of it, but more is coming back to me. I think…maybe I was blocking it out on purpose, burrowing it so deep I’d forgotten that I’d even done it.”

This was exactly what they’d been working towards, but even so, Yuna had to choke out, “What is it you recall?”

“There was a battle. More than one, but the biggest, at the end of all things…” Lightning shook her head in agitation and rubbed her forehead with the back of her free hand. “Damn it! Why can’t I do this?”

Yuna took her by the wrist, guiding Lightning’s hand away from her face. Her blue eyes flickered as they took in Yuna’s mismatched ones, bewildered but not murderous like before.

“So there was a fight. What was it about and with whom? Were you…hurt badly?”

“It had something to do with Cocoon and its survival. Fal’Cie were involved – no, not just them. There were… Oh.”

The last of it was said so softly and reverently that Yuna understood its importance if nothing else. Lightning looked down at her chest, where a gentle glow was originating. It pulsated a pink bright enough to almost be white, and Yuna had to squint as the intensity mounted. The hand once clinging to Lightning’s necklace drifted lower, to the latch of her top, and revealed a geometric spider web of white. The tattoo branded on the skin underneath was the source; she caught a glimpse of it before the light became too much and-

_In a kitchen dining area, a woman much like Lightning confessed to being branded a traitor. She ran away crying, trailed only by a blond man._

_Another scene, this of boarding a train. Yuna had never seen such a machina, there being no such concept on Spira, but instinctively she knew its purpose and name. A dark-skinned man whispered conspiratorially with her and was there through Lightning’s harrowing escape and the confrontations that followed._

_There were more changes, one of them with Lightning amongst a crowd of four. A boy and a girl had joined, all of them facing the same foe: the fal’Cie known as Anima. “It’s this thing’s fault the Purge started, and its people who are dying. Serah told us to save Cocoon, that means this thing needs to die!”_

_She bore witness to Lightning’s branding as a Pulse l’Cie, countless fighting, meeting new and old faces, mentoring and leading, sacrifice… Yuna knew that last all too well, the existence of Ragnarok mirroring Sin in the worst ways possible. Death for death’s sake, a cycle of death…_

“We stopped him…them. You and I and all our precious people,” Lightning said across from her now. Yuna opened her eyes to the environment rebuilding itself and falling into pieces. The walls were becoming less jagged, the cuts of the surface smoothing out and drifting into the air as glowing bits like snow. A crystal barrier was erecting between them.

“Let me go with you,” she begged.

In a land losing its magic much like Spira, she would still go – by way of the only method she knew how. Yuna would gladly dream the dreams of a fayth if it meant she could do this. The fal’Cie were dead or dying, but one could remain and ( _summon_ ) possess…the Phoenix.

“No.” Lightning reached over the lengthening gap, the material almost to their knees, to pull her close. She wept into the soldier’s shoulder as Lightning kissed her forehead, then rested her chin on top of her head. Softer, she said, “No, Yuna. Didn’t someone tell you once already that there’s always a way? A new hope?”

Yuna cried harder, the exposure having apparently gone both ways.

“But-”

“I would accept whatever the gods wanted of me, if it meant you were always there to have my back, but that’s no way to _live_. We have the rest of our existence to accomplish what we want, to make things _right_ , so let’s make it happen. Not because it’s expected of us or what we’re ordered to do, but because it’s what wechoose. You have your story and I have mine.”

“I won’t forget you,” Yuna promised through the sobs.

They had to separate as the wall came up higher, growing over their heads. Yuna pressed her hand against that which set them apart, Lightning doing the same, by placing her palm overtop hers from the opposite side. Before they’d pulled apart, Yuna had felt something tug against her neck and she finally started to look.

“Neither will I.”

* * *

Upon waking, Yuna sat up from where she’d fallen asleep on the desk and continued her gaze downward. Past her tears, she saw her necklace shining in the moonlight streaming through the open window of the temple library, except it wasn’t the silver pendant of her mother’s that greeted her, but Lightning’s.

-Fin-


End file.
